MARK BRODIE: The partial federal government shutdown is poised to move into its second week over the weekend, as Democrats and Republicans disagree over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
At issue: potential changes to how federal immigration agents carry out their work and the oversight of those actions.
This follows the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — by federal agents in Minneapolis.
With me not to talk about the prospect for a deal is Democratic Congressman Greg Stanton.
BRODIE: Congressman, good morning.
GREG STANTON: Good to be here.
BRODIE: So where are we in terms of trying to come to an agreement on what to do with DHS?
STANTON: Well, the Democrats have presented to the White House a counterproposal to what the White House had originally proposed as a solution to this. But the bottom line is this: All that we are asking for is what the American people desperately are asking for, and that is that ICE behave like a professional law enforcement organization.
If you're going to be out on the streets with guns and loaded weapons — and you're going to be enforcing the law — you have to do it appropriately. Take the mask off so that we can have transparency, have body cameras on, which is important for accountability and transparency. Let's have a code of conduct, just like a Phoenix law enforcement would do.
If you're going to arrest somebody, go get a warrant for it, an appropriate judicial warrant for it. And if you engage in violence and somebody gets hurt or killed — like tragically happened multiple times in Minnesota, two of our fellow Americans were killed. There should be an independent investigation so that the American public have confidence that they're gonna get the full and true story.
Those are not radical things. They're what we would expect of our local law enforcement and is exactly what you'd expect from ICE if they're gonna behave like law enforcement officers roaming the streets of America.
BRODIE: We've heard from some Republicans in Congress that they're on board — some of them — with body camera, for example. But for example, you know, taking the masks off, having identification, it seems like a fair number of Republicans are not on board with that. This seems like a pretty fundamental disagreement.
You think this should happen. The other side thinks it shouldn't happen. How do you try to come to a deal on that?
STANTON: Well, the American people are gonna continue to speak loud and clear. They don't want a secret police in the United States of America. That when we see that happen in other countries, it doesn't go well. We are America, and we expect that if you're gonna be a law enforcement officer that you have your badge and you have the identity of the organization that you are with and you operate professionally. You are well trained, and that you have accountability if things happen. And people question whether or not the right decisions were made by those law enforcement officials.
Again, those are not controversial, by the way. The other departments, like TSA, we should fund right now. Those should not be used as leverage by either side. And I think that Democrats have offered to fund all of the other departments from Department of Homeland Security. And let's just focus in on ICE, because that's really where the problems are. And the Republicans should take us up on that offer to make sure that everyone in that department gets paid now and receives pay in the current times. And let's deal with ICE, which is really the challenging issue.
BRODIE: Kind of along those lines, not necessarily related to the funding, though, I know you're concerned about the facility in Surprise that we and so many others have been talking about. Obviously not part of your district, but part of the Valley. I'm curious what you make of your colleague, Congressman Gosar's, letter to the Homeland Security secretary asking some questions about what's going on here.
STANTON: He and I are asking the exact same questions. I was actually very happy to see his letter challenging a lot of the decisions that were made by DHS and purchasing that facility. They didn't talk to anybody. DHS didn't talk to the mayor, didn't talk to the council, didn't talk to the local school district, didn't talk to the nearby neighborhood.
If this wasn't the federal government, then the city would say, "Hell no, you can't go there." That's a totally inappropriate site for the business that's gonna be going on there.
The community, both Republicans and Democrats, are angry about the fact that DHS did this secretly. And when they finally told the public about it, it was kind of a done deal.
The city normally would have a chance to go in there and have building inspectors go in there and make sure that the building is ready for life-safety issues. They're gonna have 1,500 detainees in there. On top of that, a tremendous number of employees at. Well, that's at a level of intensity that was never designed for that site.
And the federal government shouldn't come in and say, "We're exempted from the city of Surprise standards for any other business." So people are rightfully very angry.
And on top of that, the American people don't want this mass deportation policy that we're seeing. The American people expect that Homeland Security and ICE is gonna go after people with violent criminal records, targeted enforcement.
Instead, they're seeing something very different — and they're angry about it. They don't think that's the right way, the right approach. And the buying these facilities in surprise and all around the country only means that they're gonna be ramping up this mass deportation policy. And that's gonna anger the American people, rightfully so.
BRODIE: Have you or Congressman Gosar gotten answers to any of the questions you've been asking?
STANTON: Not yet, no. Then we put a deadline in the very near future to get those answers. By the way, the mayor and council are asking the exact same questions as well. This is bipartisan anger about this decision. And in a bipartisan way, we are demanding answers. The very same answers that we would expect from anyone putting a development of this type.
It's not zoned for it. The city's not going to have opportunity to inspect the building and provide what's called a certificate of occupancy, which means it guarantees that it is safe for human beings who are gonna be staying there. This is a potentially dangerous situation, and that is why the neighborhood, the school district, the community and elected officials from both parties are expressing anger about this.
BRODIE: Do you get the sense at this point it's a done deal even without those questions being answered?
STANTON: No, I don't think it's a done deal. Look, there's gonna be continued pressure on them to not move forward with this. There's gonna be continued pressure on them to answer questions about life safety and the ability of life safety. But also, I think there's gonna be answered questions nationally about whether the approach that they've been taking is the right approach.
Look, there's a reason why Kristi Noem got fired from overseeing the Minnesota operation. She was a horrific leader of that organization. Two of our fellow Americans died because she oversaw an entity that was putting untrained agents out on the streets with deadly weapons without the training, experience and/or policies to protect the public.
You know what they did, the Trump administration did? Because the American people rose up and said, "Hell, no." They have moved back on that. I think the same thing could happen easily on a national level, where the American people say that this mass deportation, the expansion of this mass deportation policy is not the right policy.
And Trump and his team are going to hear from even Republicans saying, you got to knock this off. And I think in the not too distant future, a lot of these facilities that they bought around the country are going to be for sale for other purposes.
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